Didn't Have To Be

6

Peter was in so much trouble after Tony told Mary about the boy's little 'side job'. He'd never really seen his mother get too angry at him before, not since he was a child and ditched her after the Battle of New York. He tried to stay on his parents' good side after that... They were surprisingly terrifying when they wanted to be.

He was grounded for eternity as his dad put it, never to leave their mansion again. Of course though, try as he might, he couldn't obey his parents and continued his Spider-Manning. Yeah... not really his best idea as Iron Man would always chase him across the city threatening to put steel bars across his widow...

He did.

Peter liked to pretend he was in a prison cell whenever he looked outside. A very nice prison cell with wifi and a soft bed. But he continued to find ways to sneak out because the city needed him - they needed Spider-Man. His parents just couldn't seem to get that. And because of their stubbornness, he kept getting deeper and deeper into trouble with them.

And then the Accords were brought up.

There was something different about Tony - it was so obvious that a blind man could see it. Peter couldn't place it, he couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was, but he was betting it had something to do with Sakovia. All of the Avengers' problems seemed to be stemming from that as of late.

Peter watched from the doorway as his dad sat with a bottle of alcohol at the kitchen island, a discarded whiskey glass next to him. The man only drank like that when he was really upset... Peter learned to stay away from him when he was like that - not that he was abusive, just very bitter and reclusive. Peter hated seeing Tony like that. He turned to start walking away just before a voice called out to him.

"Peter?"

Peter grimaced at being caught, normally he was more sneaky than that... He turned back and stepped into the room. "Yeah?"

Tony nodded to the seat next to him, putting the lid back on the bottle and sliding it away. "Come sit with me, let's have a little chat."

Peter raised an eyebrow, unsure of himself and Tony's motives as he slowly made his way forward to the chair.

"You know what happened in Sokovia, right, Peter?" Tony asked, not looking up from his hands that were clasped together on the table.

"Yeah, Ultron raised the city up and was planning on eradicating pretty much all life forms, like the meteorite and the dinosaurs."

Tony nodded as he took in a breath, "And who created Ultron?"

Peter hesitated slightly. His dad was the king of feeling guilty, if Peter answered this question aloud, it could make him feel worse.

"Who created Ultron, Peter?"

"...You did." Peter swallowed thickly, "But you were doing it with good intentions, you just wanted to-"

"It could have been prevented if I had just thought about it a little more... If I hadn't been so greedy for 'world peace'. So many people died that day that we couldn't save. So many innocent people that would be alive right now if it hadn't been for me."

"It's not your fault!" Peter blurted out, facing his dad. "You just wanted to be at home with mom and me! You wanted us to be safe and you wanted to live with us happily without having to be always on call for work! It's not your fault that you wanted to end the Avengers and live a peaceful life!"

Tony stared at the kid, not expecting his outburst at all. Peter was normally not so assertive when he spoke... It was a surprising change that was refreshing.